The Foremothers Who Inspire - Part 3 of 3

                 

[Image from Biblio.com]

JIREL OF JOIRY is another SFBC purchase that introduced me to C.L. (Catherine Lucille) Moore. When we think about the Sword-&-Sorcery genre, a subgenre under Fantasy, many of us think about Conan the Barbarian, Kull the Conqueror, and even Red Sonja. However, there have been other leading women characters, and so, I found out about Jirel, a shero created to counter all those heavily-muscled loincloth-wearing men!

Science Fiction Book Club (Remember I said in the last posts never join this club? Don't say I didn't warn you) had a hardcover collection of Jirel of Joiry's hard-to-find short stories in one. I bought it, tore through it, and then let a friend borrow it who never gave it back (If you are a book lover and collector, please don't let ANYONE borrow your books) but BOY! What a dark and dim-grim fantasy series this was! And oh, so good! 

Now that I think about it, C.L. Moore's JoJ was more like Michael Moorcock's Elric of Meldibone' series. Grim, dismal, dark, ironic, and compelling. And earlier! 

It was between Jirel, Elric, and later, Sabriel (Garth Nix) that I wanted to write my own sword-and-sorcery/dark fantasy within my feline fantasy series, Tabber the Red. 

Right now, for the month of NaNoWriMo, I'm a NaNoRebel and penning a dark little fantasy tale in two short stories about a black
warlock cat and brown tabby warrior encountering a hellscape of animated trees, possessed gemstones, and dragons so ancient that landscapes form on them. 

Please tune in for more and this concludes my 'Foremothers Who Inspire' blog trilogy!

Thank you for reading!

The Foremothers Who Inspire - Part 2 of 3

Mary Stewart holds a special place in my heart. Discovering her books in my family library, her books are filled with magic and wonder. As a family if readers, there were no age limits to most books, so me at ages 8-11 reading THE CRYSTAL CAVE, Stewart's retelling of Merlin's place within the Arthurian tradition made me giddy with excitement upon initial reading. The tale about the childhood of one of literature's most iconic wizards is a tour de force in the hands of a magical storyteller. The book is part of a trilogy and I urge you to read it. Stewart has other books that take place in contemporary England but involving psychics within a clan bloodline where felines are in the family crest. TOUCH NOT THE CAT is another winner from Mary Stewart and another author I add to early childhood influences in what I read and what I write now.

Stay tune, Dear Readers, for the third and final blog post to this mini-series.

The Foremothers Who Inspire - Part 1 of 3

I purchased this short story collection from the SFBC - Science Fiction Book Club (Never ever Ever join this club!) several years ago. I must admit, I had never heard of Henderson. The Complete People Stories involves a century of human-looking aliens who land in the U.S. Southwest and try to live in isolation while developing their super abilities. When I first started reading, the stories reminded me of Ray Bradbury's work, especially his Martian Chronicles. Henderson's stories are simple slice-of-life, but with the deepening atmosphere of the southwest and the family values formed within. The People adopt a lot of our ways of life while still retaining their alieness and this just one of the kinds of SF I enjoy. No predatory alien invaders, though I read such too, but aliens that landed on our world and for reasons left in the background of the reader's mind, have to make do with what they have on earth. Please give this collection a try!